The door slams shut, Jes standing out in the hallway as she stares at the door. "Guess I can actually have fun now."
Skipping out the school doors, Jes wanders around town with a gleeful smile. Strange looks from the on-lookers she passes by. What? You all jealous that you can't be me? I'd be too if I were you. All alone, she walks the street, all those eyes watching every moment.
"Hey, Reese! I'm bored." Shoving the doors to Penny's café open. More eyes.
Reese sighs, talking in a low tone as she stands next to him. "Don't you have school?"
"Those losers kicked me out, all for having a little fun." Her stomach growls. "Oh…" The consequences of her actions biting her almost immediately.
Reese lets out a chuckle. "I'll fix you something, alright? Did you tell your parents?"
With how often she takes trips here, eventually Jes's parents visited. It was embarrassing as all hell for her, but it made Reese and Penny feel better meeting them.
"I guess it'll do. Your cooking's pretty average." Taking a seat at the counter. "I don't have to tell them now."
"Jes, they're going to worry about you. Send them a message that you're here. I have some other guests to deal with, but I'll bring you something once it's ready." Reese says before walking away.
Pulling out her phone, Suck's logo replaced with art of Kamen Rider Sizzle. Jes's finger hovers over the messages app.
Got kicked out of class again. Reese is looking after me at the café. Jes almost types out a short sorry, but deleting it and sending the message. A response bubble pops up at the bottom left, the three dots sitting there for what felt like hours, but nothing.
Jes almost drops her phone as a plate of food appears in front of her, along with some water. "Reese! Don't scare me like that!"
"I think I'm allowed to this much with how much you laugh at me." Smirking as he looks around the café, everyone seems relatively satisfied.
Jes looks over to the door leading to the Emporium of Sweets, frowning as she continues eating. "Hey, Reese?"
"Yes?" Not oblivious to her change in tone.
"Is the girl from last week okay? Ivy." She stops eating, simply picking at her food. "Y'know, she still likes basketball, right?" Jes panics, she had forgotten there were other people around.
"Well, the news said Suck is still looking, so there's no telling when she might show up. You'll be able to visit all you like once she's found."
Reese pulls out his own phone, typing a message to no one as he shows Jes. Her condition is fine, but she's still in a state of boredom. He sighs for a moment before typing. Go ahead.
A surprised face turns into a bright smile as Jes wolfs down the rest of her food. "Thanks, Reese." Jumping off the seat and rushing into the employee's only door, ignoring any of the other's doors except one at the center. Jes kicks it open, hopping into the slide.
"Woohoo!" Jes shouts, reaching the end of the slide as she enters what looks like a large warehouse. Fitted with beds and other various necessities. Though, all she gets is more eyes on her, both bored and alive.
A man taps her on the shoulder. "I don't remember Penny mentioning any visitors." Giving his clipboard a confused look. "Did Reese let you come down?"
"Yep! So you can put all the blame on him if Penny gets mad." Looking around at the bored victims, holding random items.
Are they really improving? I hope Ivy's… Unable to finish the thought as she sees the girl sitting alone, with the basketball in her hand, her wooden hoop attached to the wall in front of her.
"Do you know her?" The man asks. "Ivy's got it bad. She hasn't shown any signs of recovering in the past week."
What?
"B-But I just wanted to…" Jes runs over to the girl without thinking. "Ivy, right?"
"Huh?" Ivy looks up. Her eyes are devoid of any passion, almost like she became a blank slate.
"You like basketball, don't you?" Jes asks.
Ivy looks down at the ball in her hands with a slight nod. "I think."
She was so happy about it before. I didn't mean to do this. It wasn't my fault. I just wanted to help her. Penny and Reese understand, don't they? I just wanted to help.
Taking the ball from her hand, Jes doesn't notice as a scared look grows on Ivy's face. "Then throw it, like this!" It hits the rim and bounces on the ground. "Well, not like that. But you get the idea." Jes looks back as she picks the ball back up. Ivy's breathing has become more panicked as her eyes dart around. "What's wrong? W-Why are you panicking?"
The man from before takes the ball from her hands. "You can't just force her like that!"
"I-I just wanted to…" Looking at Ivy, who's still panicking. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to hurt her. I-It was an accident."
Didn't I do it on purpose? No, I wasn't trying to make her freak out. I just thought that…
Jes looks around, so many eyes are on her. All of them are looking at her. The man comforts Ivy, giving her ball back. "I-I'm sorry." But the damage was done. Jes runs back to the slide. Crashing through the door to the Emporium, Jes slams into someone.
"So you did go down there." Penny says, helping Jes up. "Did something happen?"
"i-I didn't mean to…" Looking between the two of them, she doesn't want to say what happened. They'll hate her. "It was an accident. I just wanted to help her."
Worry washes over Penny's face. "What do you mean? You went to talk to Ivy, right?"
Jes nods. "I was trying to help her play basketball, but she just started panicking."
"Are you serious, Jes?!" The worry turns into anger as Penny looks at Reese. "I told you that would be too much for her!"
Before she can say anymore, Reese puts a hand on her shoulder. "It was my fault. How about Jes and I deal with the person you found, and you can hold things down here? Would that work?"
Penny sighs, closing her eyes to think. "Fine, just keep an eye on her." She looks back at Jes. "Sorry for yelling, I just…you can't be so reckless with people. I'll check how bad it is. Don't worry."
Silence fills the space between the three, Penny's right, isn't she? If Jes had just been more careful, if she had just thought for a moment about how her actions would affect Ivy, this wouldn't have happened. Sirens break the silence as they blare out in the distance.
"Breakout detected! Breakout detected! Evacuate the area immediately!"
All three look back in shock. "But I was just there!" Penny shouts. "Someone needs to check on the girl. You two handle the breakout."
Reese and Jes nod as she slips into the slide to their safe house. "You think you'll be alright?" Reese asks.
"Hu-Huh?" Jes's still shaken up about the yelling, even as she grabs her belt. "I'll be fine. Just don't slow me down."
"I'll try my best."
Reese holds the button on his sword as Jes slams her belt on, sliding her hands into the gloves stuck to the front. Jes rips the gloves of as Reese is encased in chocolate, both shouting in unison.
"Transform!" The two run into one of the many doors, diving into the slide.
Sliding out into the alleyway, they close up the entrance they came out of and start running in the direction of distant screaming. Gunfire rings out as they get closer, the shout of what they can only assume is the breakout following.
"Listen to my story, won't you? It'll be fun, you'll see!" The outside of the breakout is made of a thick binder's board, covering almost it's entire body like a shell, underneath are a plethora of pages.
Soldiers continue unleashing storms of bullets on the monster, but they trickle off the casing, even less effective than they usually are. The shell on it's arms open for a moment, waves of paper with scribbled writing flying out at the soldiers. Each page hitting with enough force to knock them over. Reese jumps in-front of one of the knocked over soldiers, slicing through a page meant for them.
"Get the rest of your group out, we'll handle the rest." He says before the soldiers points their gun at him.
"No you don't!" Jes swiping the gun as it melts in her hand, the acid-like substance dripping slowly.
"Careful." Reese says before dashing towards the monster.
Jes yanks her hand away before anything drips on the soldier. "I know that! And you…" She points at the soldier, keeping her hand just far enough away. "Stop being annoying!"
Reese slices through each wave of paper, the shell closing before he can slash at the breakout's insides. Even his sword fails to leave more than a small mark on it. Jes tries to break through, but the shell opens back up and continues its onslaught. The paper is too much for her to keep up with, getting pushed further and further back.
"Crack! Can't you figure something out?" Jes shouts.
Reese jumps back, making his way over to Jes to slice papers out of her way, chuckling at her annoyance. "You make it sound easy, but I do have an idea or two." Slicing each wave as he walks forward. "Follow my lead, and make use of that acid."
With the soldiers occupied with the paper, Jes and Reese slowly move closer to the breakout. Once close enough, it closes it's shell, Reese clicks the trigger on his sword. The chocolate case covers his entire body as gloves push on his shoulders, Jes leaping over him.
"Stop hiding, and let us win!" Pressing her hand against the shell covering it's chest, the material melts away, chaos unfolding as papers shoot out wildly. "Go for it!"
As the papers close in on Reese, the chocolate shatters open, a single slash cutting through the breakout's chest. "And…" He catches the victim as a man lands in his arms as the mist is sucked away. "Another saved."
"Hold it." A familiar voice to Reese's ears causes him to stop. "Both of you." Ronny and another man pointing their guns at the two riders.
"Ugh, seriously? We saved you guys, can't you be a little grateful?" Jes looks over to Reese, who's staring at Ronny. "Hey, you good?" She whispers.
"Make this easy for us." Ronny says, the other man stays silent.
"And if we don't? I'd hope this town's protectors wouldn't risk shooting an innocent man, not that you'd keep them safe to begin with." Reese says.
"So we leave them to you three? Suck has an obligation to keep the people safe, but a group like yours is a mystery." Ronny says.
"The people have an obligation to protect the people, not the corporation that feeds off them." Reese's hands grip the unconscious man.
"And if both were to work together instead of fight against each other?" Ronny asks.
"We would only be used to further Suck's control. They'll always look after themselves. We're nothing more than assets to them, including their soldiers."
Ronny lets out a deep breath before lowering his weapon to the other soldiers confusion. "I'm not risking that man's life. You got lucky."
Using the moment of confusion from the soldiers, Reese signals Jes and they both run off, disappearing from the group's sight.
"You sure that was a good idea?" Chip asks. "Ms. Grand won't be happy about this."
Putting his gun away, Ronny just pats him on the shoulder as he starts walking. "We've got a report to make."
Chips sighs before following along. "She's going to kill us…"